Mum stunned by surprise charge on holiday; 'Am I being unreasonable?'

Mother wants to know, 'is this a thing?!'. Photo / Getty Images

A shocked UK mum has shared her frustrations with the internet after being charged more money for her grocery shopping than locals are charged.

BBInGinDrinking says, "We're on a family holiday staying in a rural coastal cottage in the UK and have been doing all our grocery shopping at the local stores in the nearest villages. I discovered on the last visit to a general store in one village that they have two sets of prices - lower ones for locals and higher ones for visitors.

"Who knew?! Is this a thing?!"

Hundreds of mums shared their thoughts, with some declaring the practice "discriminatory".

Others said it was simply the way of the world.

Yellowellies claims the practice is alive and well in Wales, "In some of the pubs they (allegedly) ask what you want in Welsh, and charge more/less depending on whether you can answer in Welsh or not- don't know if this is true, but generally the English students avoid those pubs, so even if it's just a rumour it keeps the Welsh pub Welsh!"

Lonecatwithkitten makes a point:

"We have a local shop that was saved by villagers putting in money. There is one price for the investors and one for others. The investors probably will never get their money back so some discount is the only benefit they get.

"Are you sure this is not the case?"

Perfect storm says, "Most UK holiday places have very low wages, high house prices, and a lot of poverty when the season ends."

YobaOljazUwaque agrees, "Most nice holiday spots, the holiday homers and retirees have gutted the local community, driven up house prices so that locals in their 20s and 30s have to live in caravans not homes and made everything miserable."

Amanduh was surprised at the general acceptance of the thread, "I'm surprised at the answers here, especially since we are always trying to keep the UK inclusive. What if shops had different prices for 'foreigners' then? Once price for English people only? It's ok for pubs wanting to 'keep Welsh pubs Welsh!' Sorry, no. It's disgusting."

Aderyn19 says its unfair to target visitors, "A family might have gone without a lot of things to afford a few days away."

Karenbokaren wishes her local did something similar. "I have to shop locally though, as I've no other option. It's very jarring to be paying millionaires' prices."